When the coal seam is fairly close to the surface yet too deep to use surface mining, a slope mine can be built, with the mine entrance being a tunnel which slants down from the surface to the coal seam.

A drift mine is a mine in which the entry is directly into a horizontal coal seam exposed at or near the surface.

Coal might be Germany's most abundant indigenous energy source, but the death knell finally sounded for the country's unprofitable coal industry when the government decided to end mining subsidies by 2018.

The first coal was mined in Germany almost 900 years ago, but coalmining only came into its own in the 19th century when industrialization transformed the mining regions of the Ruhr Valley and the Saarland into Germany's industrial heartland.

Germany's coalmining industry -- already facing the end of government subsidies -- was hit by a further blow this weekend when it was revealed that financial discrepencies could lead to mine closures and job losses.

Detailed plans covering coal exploitation and transportation, environmental protection and regional economic development will be worked out before the end of this year or early next year, the NDRC said.

According to the country's technical code for coalmining and utilization, at least 75 percent of available coal should be extracted.

But one official in Shaanxi Province said recently that none of the mines in his province reaches that level, and that the average extraction rate is just 30 percent.

Coal (previously referred to as pitcoal or seacoal) is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining).

Coal composition is determined by specific coal assay techniques, and is performed to quantify the physical, chemical and mechanical behaviour of the coal, including whether it is a good candidate for coking coal.

Coal liquefaction is one of the backstop technologies that will limit escalation of oil prices and mitigate the alleged effects of peak oil, provided that the extra carbon dioxide released in the process does not catastrophically accelerate global warming/adverse climate effects.

Although evidence of coalmining can be seen at many places in eastern and southeastern Ohio, few individuals have actually seen how coal is mined to understand the effort and technology that is involved in extracting the resource from the ground so that it can be used.

The deepest shaft for miningcoal in Ohio is the now-abandoned Jensie mine in Jefferson County at a depth of 480 feet.

In longwall mining, a machine with a revolving cylinder studded with tungsten carbide bits moves back and forth across the working face, shearing off chunks of coal, while water is sprayed on the coal to minimize the amount of coal dust generated.

www.dnr.state.oh.us /geosurvey/geo_fact/geo_f15.htm (2220 words)

Citizens Coal Council(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)

Mine operators often admit in their permit applications that the sites will be used for "grazing" or "wildlife habitat" instead of stores, factories, or other facilities.

Coal companies routinely cause damage but sate and federal regulators rarely enforce the blasting standards for any type of coalmining.

Mines have blasted rocks and debris into homes and cars, making it dangerous in some areas for people to work in their yards or allow children to wait outside for the school bus.

When the coal is found close to the Earth's crust and taking away the overlying layers of material is not too expensive, surface mining is used to remove the top layers of materials and expose the coal.

In the mine, coal is loaded in small coal cars or on conveyor belts which carry it outside the mine to where the larger chunks of coal are loaded into trucks that take it to be crushed (smaller pieces of coal are easier to ship, clean, burn, etc.).

Coal has been got in Over Darwen, Eccleshill, Tockholes, and Lower Darwen at least three centuries, very probably for a longer period, and the presence of this mineral fuel has during the interval compensated the inhabitants of these townships for the barrenness of most of the soil of the district.

The Darwen coal seams were gradually worked out during the last half of the nineteenth century and by 1900 mining was almost totally confined to the east side of the town, mainly in the Waterside and Hoddlesden districts.

Clear evidence of coalmining that was underway during the mid-1800s is shown in the 1846 Ordnance Survey map of the Eccleshill area.

Coalmining -- the extraction of coal by surface mining or deep mining methods -- has often proved to be an unacceptable activity under past and present practices.

For example, direct mining activity away from all coal seams in the area of existing deep mine seals in order to prevent weakening of seals through strata disturbance; identify and prohibit any mining activity that might endanger the integrity of barriers-in-place; and carefully regulate concurrent mining activity in multiple coal seams where blasting is involved.

Mining operators must be liable for the offsite damages involved in coal haulage - -including tipples, machinery, and sheds -- after mining is completed, and must be required to restore the area by revegetation and other necessary measures.

After the coming of coalmining and modernization the mountaineers were ladles and their families lived in company towns with a blend of ethnic and racial groups.

Coal towns were prominent in the Southern Appalachians because in the Southern coal fields the towns were usually established along with the discovery of coal.

Often, the mining company offices, power plant, coke ovens, coal tipple, and branch railroad tracks [which arrived soon afterwards] consumed all available land in the restricted valley area, and houses had to be strung out along the creek's bank or placed on stilts along the mountainside or immediately adjacent to the railroad tracks.

In the case of longwall mining of coal, self-advancing roof supports, made of hydraulic jacks and metal plates, are moved ahead, allowing the ceiling in the mined area to cave in as the miners work back towards the tunnel entrance.

In surface mining, the layers of topsoil, or overburden, that were removed in order to reach the mineral are used to fill in the mine and reshape the land.

Like the metal mining industry, the nonmetallic mineral mining industry is influenced by the strength of the industries that use nonmetals in the manufacture of their products; these are industries in which employment is impacted by swings in the economy.

According to the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals, 131.8 million tons of coal was mined in Kentucky in 2000; 62 percent (81 million tons) was from underground mines and 38 percent (50 million tons) was from surface mines.

In room and pillar mining, the most common type of underground coalmining, coal seams are mined by a "continuous miner" that cuts a network of "rooms" into the seam.

Contour mines are surface mines that minecoal in steep, hilly, or mountainous terrain.

The mining of coal is regulated by Part 635, Michigan's CoalMineReclamation Regulations, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended (NREPA), including associated rules. Other state regulations may also apply depending on the nature and location of the mining project.

A CoalMineReclamation Permit, issued by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Office of Geological Survey (OGS), is required for miningcoal in Michigan. It is the policy of the DEQ that all permit applications receive a thorough review, including opportunity for public input and comment.

Metallic mineral mining permit application requirements are described in Part 631. In addition to obtaining a copy of the Part 631, it is important that applicants contact the OGS to ascertain the requirements and details of the application process.

Archives of Appalachia, Coal(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)

Coal and coalmining have long provided an image of Appalachia to the world -- a rich mixture of mineral and human resources, exploitation and economic benefits, pollution and reclamation, violence and contentment, decline and renewal -- all blended into a story rich and complex.

Materials relate to such topics as Appalachian economic development, coal and coalmining, absentee land ownership, land use, strip mining and the reclamation of mined areas, miner protests, coal power, the coal tax issue, pollution, and coal company profits and taxes.

Includes audio recorded interviews discussing coalmining (modern and historically), strip mining, reclamation of land, the miner's life, mining accidents and safety, mining on the Cumberland Plateau, in southwest Virginia, and in West Virginia, and unions.

cass.etsu.edu /archives/coal.htm (741 words)

EPA-MAIA - Coal Mining(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-07)

Coal is extracted from mines to be used for fuel in a variety of applications.

The physical and chemical stressors associated with mining are reflected by the composition of biological assemblages and the energy and material flows of the ecosystem ((e.g., Clements et al.

Total mining area was estimated by using spectral signatures for coalmining developed for the middle Appalachian region by EPA Region 3.

By then the mining of coal had assumed a much more important industrial role and the George's Creek Coal and Iron Company, which already owned thousands of acres of land along with the mineral rights, turned to coalmining as its sole interest.

Timber was also used for the rails for the haulage of the mine cars, and the miner had to attend to the tracks to get his coal car to the main track.

By 1918 their mines in the “Big Vein” were abandoned, and in 1930, the company produced less than 3% of the coalmined in Maryland, according to the Baltimore Association of Commerce, and had fewer than 100 employees.

The Bureau was charged with there sponsibility of conducting research and reducing accidents in the coalmining industry.However, Congress did not empower the federal inspectors to enter and inspect mines until 1941.Congress authorized the formulation of the first code of federal regulations for mine safety in 1947.

When coal is first mined, large pillars coal are left to support the rock between the mine and surface.

This is the capsule that was used to rescue 9 miners in the Quecreek Mine Rescue, July 29, 2002.